What’s past is prologue
Sundevils want to leave the drama, chaos behind them, focus on hope for brighter season
When guard J.P Sena looks back at the 2016-17 boys basketball season, he wonders how the Española Valley Sundevils functioned as a unit, much less win 20 games.
Isaiah Vigil remembers mentally checking out on the season after back-to-back losses to Albuquerque Academy and Los Alamos in early February.
“To this day and for the rest of my life, I don’t know how we lost those games,” said Vigil, the Sundevils’ senior wing. “It was mental. I just remember being on the bus after the Academy loss, and just … I just checked out midway through [the District 2-5A season].”
It was a lost season for the Sundevils before the first opening tip against Gallup last November. These were the defending Class 5A champions, who never got the chance to truly celebrate their title after winning it in March 2016 because of the drama that unfolded just days after that win.
The day the circus came to town (and didn’t leave for a year) began with the investigation by Española superintendent Bobbie Gutierrez into claims that thenhead coach Richard Martinez bullied, threatened and intimidated players, parents, administrators and staff members at Española Valley. The next 13 months were a blur, as a school investigation turned into a state Public Education Department probe, and cameras and reporter seemed to show up almost every week looking for the latest scoop about the drama. “It was everywhere,” Vigil said. Even though Española won 20 games and shared the regularseason district title with Capital, the season ended ignominiously with a 63-56 loss to Albuquerque Del Norte in the opening round of the 5A state tournament. The time to turn the page had come.
On Wednesday, though, it was a more tranquil atmosphere — other than the booming voice of Sundevils new head coach, James Branch, resonating through Edward Medina Gymnasium. Branch was in perpetual motion throughout the 2½-hour practice, keeping the action moving from one end of the court to the other. By the end of practice, he pulled out his cell phone and showed off his pedometer that showed he took 10,000 steps that day, beaming with pride.
“I get mad when I don’t make it [to his goal],” Branch said.
It’s a new day in Sundevil Country, and Branch is looking only toward tomorrow. When he took the job in late April, he made a point of not talking about all of the distractions that took place in the previous 12 months.
“Let the past be the past,” Branch said. “That’s been my attitude in coming into this position. I’m just coming in trying to be positive about the program and just moving forward.”
A year ago, Branch wondered if he had a future in coaching. He was a C-team coach under Martinez for the 2015-16 season and he coached the team on an interim basis through last summer
as Martinez battled to get his job back. When he did in July, Branch was not asked to come back.
As he watched the Sundevils from afar, Branch believed he
was reaching his coaching peak and watching his time to use that knowledge slip away.
“I feel like I’m at my pinnacle right now, as far as what I can bring to the table through all the years of coaching and what I’ve learned,” Branch said of last season. “And I’m flabbergasted that I’m not coaching.”
His hiring renewed his spirit, but the coach of many stops — Questa (twice), Taos (twice), Mora, McCurdy (girls) and Mesa Vista (girls) — knows that this moment might be fleeting. Branch hoped that he would finish his career at Mora, where he played in the mid-1970s, but he was fired in June 2014. Branch treasures the job he has now.
“I wanted to just retire there, but ultimately that didn’t work out,” Branch said. “I have a passion to still coach and I didn’t want to leave on that note.”
Nor do the eight Sundevil seniors want to leave their prep careers on the sour note they played in March. The loss rejuvenated them, and they prepared for this season with a singular
purpose — to win back the state trophy they felt they didn’t truly have a chance to defend.
“It pushed us to work hard, and get a lot stronger,” senior forward Azaziah Salazar said. “We got a lot stronger in the offseason, we improved our shooting and worked on our depth. We’ve got a lot of guys who can play.”
Branch wants to use that depth to the Sundevils’ advantage. Always a coach who favored playing an up-tempo style, Branch implemented his “Organized Chaos” over the summer with the intent of breaking teams’ through pace and numbers.
However, he admits that he has learned that his teams also have to show they can play at a slower tempo. In Española’s seasonopening 80-49 win over Gallup, Branch contemplated using some half-court sets and playing “more conservatively,” as he said. When he went to talk to the players about it at the half, the response was unified.
“I said, ‘What do you guys think?’ ” Branch said. “They said, ‘No.’ Not one kid wanted to be conservative. And I’ll be damned, we broke that thing open.”
The players, who were used to the slower tempo Martinez preferred to use to control games, haven’t flinched at playing every inch of the court.
“I like it,” said Sena, a senior guard. “I think it fits us pretty good.”
“We all grew up smaller than everyone,” Vigil said. “We’re use to being, like, two feet shorter than everyone we’re playing in AAU ball [in the summer]. So, we’re used to running past guys and just going full blast down the court.”
Perhaps the best way to get away from the drama of last season is to run — and keep running.